How Many Footsteps Do Dogs Need to Determine the Direction of an Odour Trail? Export

@article{citeulike:173971, abstract = {Dogs have the ability to determine the direction of an odour trail left by a human. This study examined how much olfactory information from this trail is required by dogs to determine direction. Six dogs, able to determine direction, were tested on a 21 footstep trail laid on 21 individual carpet squares, one footstep per square, by the same individual wearing the same shoes. Dogs brought in at right-angles to the trail at its centre were able to correctly determine direction better than chance (P < 0.025). Dogs were unable to determine direction when the order of the footsteps was randomized by rearranging the order of the carpet squares. When the individual odour cue was removed, but ground disturbance left, dogs were unable to determine direction, indicating that it was the odour of the individual that was used to determine direction. In the final experiment the number of footsteps made available to the dog was reduced from 21 to 11 and then 9, 7, 5 and finally 3. Dogs were able to determine direction from 5 footsteps but not 3. It was calculated that it takes 1–2 s for the odour information in footsteps to change to provide discernible information that can be used by dogs to determine direction. The process by which dogs may determine direction from odour cues is discussed.}, author = {Hepper, Peter G. and Wells, Deborah L.}, citeulike-article-id = {173971}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bji023}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/4/291}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/oup/chemse/2005/00000030/00000004/art00291}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15741595}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=15741595}, citeulike-linkout-5 = {http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/4/291}, doi = {10.1093/chemse/bji023}, issn = {0379-864X}, journal = {Chemical Senses}, keywords = {scent, tracking}, month = {May}, number = {4}, pages = {291--298}, posted-at = {2009-01-04 11:10:52}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {How Many Footsteps Do Dogs Need to Determine the Direction of an Odour Trail?}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bji023}, volume = {30}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:173971 L3 - citeulike-article-id:173971 N2 - Dogs have the ability to determine the direction of an odour trail left by a human. This study examined how much olfactory information from this trail is required by dogs to determine direction. Six dogs, able to determine direction, were tested on a 21 footstep trail laid on 21 individual carpet squares, one footstep per square, by the same individual wearing the same shoes. Dogs brought in at right-angles to the trail at its centre were able to correctly determine direction better than chance (P < 0.025). Dogs were unable to determine direction when the order of the footsteps was randomized by rearranging the order of the carpet squares. When the individual odour cue was removed, but ground disturbance left, dogs were unable to determine direction, indicating that it was the odour of the individual that was used to determine direction. In the final experiment the number of footsteps made available to the dog was reduced from 21 to 11 and then 9, 7, 5 and finally 3. Dogs were able to determine direction from 5 footsteps but not 3. It was calculated that it takes 1–2 s for the odour information in footsteps to change to provide discernible information that can be used by dogs to determine direction. The process by which dogs may determine direction from odour cues is discussed. IS - 4 JF - Chemical Senses SN - 0379-864X EP - 298 TI - How Many Footsteps Do Dogs Need to Determine the Direction of an Odour Trail? PB - Oxford University Press VL - 30 SP - 291 KW - scent KW - tracking AU - Hepper, Peter AU - Wells, Deborah PY - 2005/05// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bji023 ER -